You’ll find the Paragon NTFS driver a good solution if you use the Seagate Backup Plus drive on a Windows PC the most. And you only need to access files from your Mac sometimes. Minus Points For Using The Seagate Backup Plus NTFS Driver For Your Mac. You won’t be able to use the Seagate Backup Plus as a drive for a Time Machine backup.
- I just bought a Black 1TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable external hard drive to keep a Time Machine backup while I am on the move and I wanted to have a lovely little icon that popped up each time I plugged it in. As I did before, I tried to find an icon to use on Google but I couldn’t find a decent one. Instead of googling and googling, I.
- Seagate Backup Plus is an external hard drive which is capable of taking backup up to 1TB and it supports connection types line USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, Fire Wire 800 and Thunderbolt. Apart from normal backup it also allows users to backup their online contents within Seagate hard disk.
Summary :
Are you looking for Seagate backup software to back up your important files for data protection? This post will walk you through 3 backup tools – Seagate Dashboard, Seagate Toolkit, and a third-party backup software, MiniTool ShadowMaker. Read this post to learn some details.
Quick Navigation :
Data loss is a fairly common phenomenon, which might be caused by some reasons including hard drive failure, power outage, system crash, virus, mistaken operation, etc. To avoid data loss, you might choose to create a backup for your important files.
If you are using a Seagate hard drive, a Seagate backup software is required for file backup. Well then, which one should be used for you to back up your disk data? You come to the right place; some useful tools will be listed in this post.
Seagate Backup Plus Software: Seagate Dashboard
When you search for “Seagate backup software” in Google, you will find one search result – Seagate Dashboard. This backup program is preloaded on every Seagate Backup Plus drive.
With Seagate Dashboard, you can easily back up PC data and restore your data. In earlier versions, it also enables you to back up mobile content to your storage device and the cloud, save and share your social media. The following figure shows you these features:
Note: Some Dashboard features are being removed in earlier 2018, including Mobile Backup, Social (Save and Share) and Cloud Backup. That is, only PC Backup and Restore are offered now.
How to Use Seagate Dashboard to Back up Your PC Files
This Seagate backup software is compatible with Windows and Mac. To use it, you need to connect your Seagate Backup Plus to your computer, and find this program on the disk. Then, click the file (.exe for PC, .dmg for Mac) to install Seagate Dashboard.
Tip: For Mac, the drive will reformat automatically to integrate with the Mac applications like Time Machine.
After running this Seagate Backup Plus software in your PC, you will find it offers you the Protect option (only for Windows). When you open it at the first time or you haven’t created a backup of data, two options will be given: Protect Now and New Backup Plan.
Once you click the first option, this Seagate backup software will automatically begin backing up all of you non-system files at once and continuously save changes whenever you make them.
The second option allows you to schedule your own custom backup, for example, set up a continuous backup, regular scheduled backups (monthly, weekly, daily or hourly) or take a one-time snapshot of all your files and folders.
All in all, if you have a need to back up all your data to your Seagate Backup Plus drive, please click Protect Now. Depending on the amount of data that required backing up, this could take quite a while. To automatically back up specific sets of files or folders, take full advantage of the second option.
Seagate Dashboard Not Working
Seagate Dashboard is useful to back up your PC files, however, some users are complaining this free Seagate software is not working. Here is a list of errors or messages that you might encounter:
- Unknown Error
- Missing ATL100.dll or Dbghelp.dll.
- Initial Job Pending
- Dashboard freezes after starting your first backup.
- Backup appears to hang at a certain percentage
- Connect a Seagate Dashboard enhanced to activate features.
- Error 1920. Service Seagate Dashboard/Mobile Backup Service failed to start.
If you are also bothered by the issue of Seagate Dashboard not working, you can go to this its official website to get solutions. But troubleshooting is troublesome, so you can choose another backup tool, MiniTool ShadowMaker, to back up your files on a regular basis. We will show it below.
Seagate Toolkit
In addition, Seagate has another own backup software and it is Toolkit. It is designed to back up your files, keep your data synced and manage security for Seagate & LaCie self-encrypting drives. Similarly, it can be used on PCs and Macs provided that computer meets the requirements:
- Windows® 7 Service Pack 1 or higher; 1 GB RAM
- macOS® 10.10 or higher; the Sync Plus activity requires macOS® 10.11 or higher
To use Seagate Toolkit, you need to open your Seagate Backup Plus drive, download and install this Seagate backup plus software. Then, you can use it to automatically back up non-system files and folders including personal files, documents, music, pictures, video, etc. For more information about this backup software, you can read the official introduce on Seagate Toolkit.
Note: This tool saves a full backup of the selected data initially when a backup plan is made. Whenever you add or remove content or update a file, a continuous backup plan saves a file.
Conclusion: Seagate Dashboard and Toolkit
After learning so much information on these two pieces of backup software from Seagate, you can clearly know both of them can only be used to back up non-system files (don’t support Windows operating system backup).
Besides, the operations are not easy-to-use enough; even many backup issues appear (especially Seagate Dashboard). Moreover, you can only use them to back up your data to a Seagate Backup Plus drive.
What if you want to back up Windows or disk data to a hard drive, not limited to Seagate Backup Plus drive? In the following section, you can know the solution: use MiniTool ShadowMaker, a third-party backup software for PC backup.
Seagate Backup Software: MiniTool ShadowMaker
As a free backup software designed by MiniTool, it is worth recommending. It can be a powerful alternative and supplement to Seagate Dashboard and Seagate Toolkit since it offers you more and flexible backup choices to back up your Seagate external hard drive, including:
- Back up files automatically based on your needs via 2 methods – create an image for files and sync files.
- Back up the entire disk and selected partition for backup.
- Clone your disk to another one.
- Back up your PC to an external hard drive, USB drive, NAS, etc. and back up hard drives from Seagate, WD, Toshiba, ADATA, Samsung and more.
- Back up Windows operating system including Windows 10/8/7/, etc. so that you can restore your computer to an earlier date in case of system breakdown.
Tip: If you want to restore Windows backup to different PC with dissimilar hardware, this backup software is also available.
Simply put, MiniTool ShadowMaker can be the best Seagate backup software. With these powerful features, you can back up and restore your PC in a breeze. So, take this program for a try by clicking the download button below.
How to Back up Files Automatically
As mentioned above, Seagate Toolkit and Seagate Dashboard support automatic file backup. Additionally, you can use MiniTool ShadowMaker to achieve your aim. So, how can you back up files automatically? Here is the guide.
Step 1: Decide a Backup Mode
- Open MiniTool ShadowMaker.
- Keep using the trial edition.
- Click the Connect button to continue. To create a remote backup, an IP is required.
Step 2: Choose Backup Source
- Under the Backup page, click Source to choose the backup type - Folder and Files.
- Then, choose the files you want to back up. After that, click OK.
Step 3: Choose a Destination to Store the Backup File
- MiniTool ShadowMaker allows you to back up your PC to an external hard drive (not limited to Seagate Backup Plus drive), USB flash drive, NAS and more.
- Choose one based on your needs.
Step 4: Configure Automatic File Backup Setting
- To back up files automatically, click Schedule in the Backup
- After turning this feature on, specify a time point so that this Seagate backup software can back up your important files regularly.
Step 5: Run Backup
- Go back to the following interface.
- Click Back up Now to start the backup at once.
Tip:
1. Additionally, you can use MiniTool ShadowMaker to only back up the data that you have changed or added. Meanwhile, some old backups could be deleted to save your disk space. Here, just click Scheme to make the advanced settings before running the backup.
2. This Seagate hard drive backup software gives you another method to back up files; that is syncing files to other locations. For more information, refer to this post - How to Sync Folders Windows 10 to External Drive.
1. Additionally, you can use MiniTool ShadowMaker to only back up the data that you have changed or added. Meanwhile, some old backups could be deleted to save your disk space. Here, just click Scheme to make the advanced settings before running the backup.
2. This Seagate hard drive backup software gives you another method to back up files; that is syncing files to other locations. For more information, refer to this post - How to Sync Folders Windows 10 to External Drive.
How to Back up Windows 10/8/7
In addition to file backup, you may want to back up your Windows operating system since system might crash commonly because of virus, mistaken operation, disk failure, power outage, etc. To ensure the PC can run as usual, a system image is useful to revert your system to a previous state.
But as mentioned above, the built-in Seagate backup software doesn’t support system backup. Here, MiniTool ShadowMaker is a supplement.
Step 1: Run this free backup software to start a local backup.
Step 2: By default, MiniTool ShadowMaker backs up system required partitions. Here, you won’t need to choose the backup source. Then, decide a destination to save the system image.
Step 3: After that, begin a system backup immediately by hitting Back up Now.
Tip:
1. Of course, you can back up your entire disk or some specific partitions by entering Source > Disk and Partitions to choose the source.
2. To ensure a successful system image recovery, you should create a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD disc with Media Builder after the system backup.
1. Of course, you can back up your entire disk or some specific partitions by entering Source > Disk and Partitions to choose the source.
2. To ensure a successful system image recovery, you should create a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD disc with Media Builder after the system backup.
How to Back up Hard Drive via Disk Cloning
Other than the above features, MiniTool ShadowMaker gives you a powerful feature to back up your entire hard drive – Clone Disk. This can help you to transfer all the content of the source disk to another hard drive for disk backup.
Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker.
Step 2: Enter the Tools page, click Clone Disk to go on disk cloning.
Step 3: Select the disk you need to clone and decide the disk you want to clone to.
Step 4: Then, this Seagate hard drive backup software will start performing the cloning operation. Depending on the amount of the source disk, this will take a while. For backup, you need to shut down the PC and remove the target disk after completing cloning.
Which One Should Be Used for PC Backup
Now, three pieces of Seagate backup software are introduced in this post. Well then, which one should be used for PC backup?
Seagate Dashboard and Toolkit are designed to back up your important files to Seagate Backup Plus drive. If you prepare another hard disk from other brands, these two tools don’t support. Besides, both of them require you to register before backup. In short, the built-in Seagate backup plus software is not flexible and powerful.
By contrast, MiniTool ShadowMaker not only backs up files automatically but also backs up Windows OS, partition and disk. Incremental & differential backup are supported, meanwhile, disk space management can be enabled. Above all, multiple backup methods are offered – image, sync, and clone.
In a nutshell, it is an excellent alternative and supplement to Seagate Dashboard and Seagate Toolkit. To protect your PC well, we strongly recommend using the third-party Seagate backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker. Also, you can share it with your friends on Twitter.
Bottom Line
Now, we have shown you three pieces of Seagate backup software to back up your hard drive, just choose one to start a backup for PC protection. Should you have any question, please inform us by leaving a comment or sending an email to [email protected]. Of course, any suggestion is also appreciated.
Seagate Backup Software FAQ
- To update the driver of your Seagate external hard drive, go to Device Manager.
- Right-click the disk from Disk drives to choose Properties.
- Under the Driver tab, click Update Driver.
- Browse your computer for the downloaded driver software and complete the driver update by following the on-screen wizards.
Seagate Software is an international software company. It was formed in September 1995. At that time, Seagate Technology, the largest independent disk company in the world, merged its software assets with Arcada Software.
Sure, Seagate has diagnostic software. When you encounter problems with your Seagate external device, just run diagnostic tests to check the health of its hard drive on your Windows computer.
Seagate hard drives are one of the cheapest external hard drives that you can purchase although Seagate products are less reliable than average. Besides, its data transfer rate is quite appreciable. Thus, it is your ideal choice.
Summary: When plugging your Seagate Backup Plus into a Mac computer, you may find the drive stops working and is not mounting in Disk Utility. Have you been troubled by the issue? This post will give you 7 workable solutions to fix Seagate Backup Plus drive not mounting/working issue on Mac.
Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive is often used for Time Machine backup. But many users reported that they were unable to mount Seagate Backup Plus drive on Mac computers. And some say their Seagate Backup Plus couldn't work on Mac after plugged in.
Here is a real example:
'I really need your help. My Seagate Backup plus just stopped getting detected (led not working anymore) with my MacBook Pro 2016 model (with USB Type C to USB 3 connector) suddenly. It was working fine 1 month before. I tried this backup disk with a Windows computer and the LED light is working in that case but I am not able to get it to work with my MacBook Pro anymore. Any idea guys?'
In fact, this issue is very common, especially for those who frequently share the same drive between different computers. This page will help when Seagate Backup Plus drive doesn't work on Mac.
7 solutions to Seagate Backup Plus not mounting/working on Mac
For some reason, Seagate external hard drives could not be recognized by Mac. If you can't mount the Seagate Backup Plus drive in Disk Utility, the hard drive won't work on Mac. And you can't access the data stored on it. So it's very urgent to fix the problem to make it work again.
Here are solutions to the Seagate Backup Plus not working or mounting issue.
- 1. Basic checks like the USB cable, USB port, and power resource.
- 2. Check whether the Seagate Backup Plus is showing up in Disk Utility
- 3. Check if the Seagate Backup Plus drive is mounted in Disk Utility
- 4. Show the Seagate Backup Plus on the desktop
- 5. Repair Seagate Backup Plus drive via First Aid
- 6. Update the software on Mac
- 7. Fix the not mounting or working Seagate Backup Plus drive by reformatting
1. Have some basic checks
Sometimes, the Seagate Backup Plus drive won't mount on Mac is due to the bad USB port or cable. Thus, once the Seagate Backup Plus drive stops working, you can first do some routine checks as below.
![Seagate backup plus driver download Seagate backup plus driver download](/uploads/1/1/8/5/118529049/597769108.png)
- Step 1. Check if the cable of the Seagate Backup Plus drive is connected properly to your Mac
If the drive isn't properly plugged in, it will fail to mount as it received not enough or even no power. - Step 2. Make sure the USB cable is not at fault
Try using a different USB cable to see if that fixes the problem. - Step 3. Check if the USB port is damaged
Plug the Seagate Backup Plus into another USB port if you have another one. Otherwise, insert another external storage device in this USB port. - Step 4. Check whether the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive is powered properly
In general, the current of USB port 2.3 and 3.0 are enough for the most external portable hard drives. But sometimes this amount of current may be insufficient while the drive is spinning up. - In this situation, you can try to connect the Seagate Backup Plus with a USB Y cable if you have one. And for Seagate Backup Plus Hub and Expansion Desktop, a power adaptor is required for power supply.
- Step 5. Access the drive on other Macs
Connect the Seagate Backup Plus drive to another Mac computer to see whether it works on that one or not. If the drive works on another Mac computer, there is something wrong with your Mac computer rather than the drive. What you should do is to ask for help from Apple support. - Step 6. Check if the format of Seagate hard drive is supported by macOS
For example, a Windows BitLocker encrypted drive will not be working on Mac originally. Your Mac computer is not able to mount it. To fix the problem, you can plug the Seagate Backup Plus into a PC and then access the drive on Windows.
2. Check whether the Seagate Backup Plus is showing up in Disk Utility
To troubleshoot this problem, you first need to know if this Seagate hard drive is detected by your Mac. Open the Utilities folder in your Applications folder. Launch Disk Utility and check the left pane then. If you can't see the external hard drive in macOS, the drive probably has been physically damaged. In that case, you should send the drive to the local repair shop. Otherwise, you can move to the next solution.
3. Check if the Seagate Backup Plus drive is mounted in Disk Utility
If the Seagate Backup Plus is mounted in Disk Utility, you should blame the wrong computer settings or outdated computer. Fortunately, it's easy to fix these issues. Just try solution 4 and solution 5. If the external hard drive is greyed out in Disk Utility, it's not mounted. You can try right-clicking the Seagate Backup Plus and choose the 'Mount' button. If that doesn't work, the drive has some file system problems. Please follow the solution 6 to repair the problem.
4. Show the Seagate Backup Plus on the desktop
If the Seagate external hard drive is mounted in Disk Utility, but it still doesn't show up on Mac. First of all, you should make sure the settings in Finder display drive icons on the desktop.
- 1. Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.
- 2. Select 'External disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop' and then the connected external hard drive will appear on the desktop.
5. Repair Seagate Backup Plus drive via First Aid
Seagate Backup Plus not mounting issue on Mac can be caused by file system problems. Disk Utility's First Aid is a built-in tool on Mac to deal with errors related to disks, such as file system corruption. So you can try to fix the unmountable/corrupted Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive in Disk Utility by following the steps below.
- 1. Go to Utilities Disk Utility.
- 2. Click 'View' in the top menu bar (Or click 'View' on the top window). Then select 'Show All Devices'.
- 3. Select the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive from the left sidebar.
- 4. Click 'First Aid' on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 5. Click 'Run' to perform hard disk diagnostics and fix the not mounting/not working Seagate Backup Plus.
6. Update the software on Mac
Software updates keep your computer and programs secure, deal with quite a few bugs, and provide new features. Out-of-date software can cause a variety of issues. It's possible that the operating system will become sluggish and the connected device may not function properly. Fortunately, you can easily update the software on Mac.
Seagate Backup Plus Dashboard Download For Mac
![Seagate Backup Plus Software Download Mac Seagate Backup Plus Software Download Mac](/uploads/1/1/8/5/118529049/505376179.gif)
Case 1. Update the software on macOS Mojave or Catalina. If you upgrade to macOS Mojave or macOS Catalina, you should choose 'System Preferences' from the Apple menu, then click 'Software Update' to check for updates. If any updates are available, click 'Update Now' to install them.
Case 2. Update the software on earlier macOS versions. Just launch the Mac App Store, click the 'Update' tab on the top and then choose the 'Update All'.
7. Fix the not mounting or working Seagate Backup Plus drive by reformatting
If First Aid failed on the external hard drive, it might have some serious errors that are beyond its reparation capability. In that case, you need to recover lost data from the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive as soon as possible.
Step 1. Recover lost data from the unmountable/corrupted Seagate Back Plus
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is free external hard drive data recovery software. It can easily recover files when the hard drive is not working or mounting on Mac. Also, it canrecover deleted photos and lost data from formatted drives, unreadable drives, corrupted drives, and recover deleted/lost partitions, etc. It's compatible withmacOS Big Sur 11/10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12/10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
- 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac.
- 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- 3. Select the Seagate Backup Plus and click the 'Scan' button to scan for all lost data.
- 4. Preview the searching results, choose files you want to get back, and click the 'Recover' button.
Here is a short video tutorial which shows you how to recover lost data from unmountable/corrupted external hard drives:
Step 2: Reformat the Seagate Backup Plus to make it work
After recovering data from the unmounted Seagate Backup Plus, you can now go to Disk Utility and reformat it without worrying about data loss.
• Steps to reformat Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive
Seagate Backup Plus Software Download For Mac
If unfortunately, you can't reformat the Seagate Backup Plus drive, it must have physical issues. In this case, you have to look for help from a local data recovery company.
Bonus Part: Introduction to different Seagate Backup Plus drives
Seagate Backup Plus Software Download Mac Download
You probably use a Seagate desktop drive like Backup Plus Hub and Expansion. Or you could use a Backup Plus Portable drive like Ultra Touch and Slim. No matter which Seagate Backup Plus drive you choose, it could not work on the Mac for some reason.
Therefore, it's important to know the differences between those Seagate Backup Plus drives. This helps you to use the Seagate Backup Plus drive more correctly and efficiently, and then avoid hard disk corruption.
- Seagate Backup Plus Hub: This Seagate Backup Plus Desktop drive has large capacities with cross-platform compatibility, which means you don't have to format the drive for both Mac and Windows again. It's an all-in-one data hub and recharging station for tablet, smartphone and camera.
- Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch: Backup Plus Ultra Touch portable hard drives feature password protection and hardware encryption, USB-C compatibility, and file sync. You can't open the Seagate Backup Plus drive on Mac until it's unlocked. Moreover, an NTFS for Mac software is needed to use Backup Plus Ultra Touch on Mac, as it's preformatted with NTFS.
- Seagate Backup Plus Slim: Seagate Backup Plus is small enough for a loaded laptop bag. It's an ideal external hard drive with easy portability and enough storage space. But avoid dropping your Seagate Backup Plus drive during transportation, in case it's damaged and not working.
- SeagateBackup Plus Portable: Backup Plus portable drives offer easy-to-use software tools like Seagate Dashboard, so that you can schedule automatic backup and mirror folders easily.
Conclusion
Seagate Backup Plus Software Download
No matter what caused Seagate Backup Plus not mounting, working, or readable issue on Mac, such as logical problems and physical damages, the most important thing is to back up important data or recover lost data with free Mac data recovery software. iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a powerful and reliable data recovery tool on macOS which supports various external drives, including external hard drives, SD cards, USB flash drives, etc.
Seagate Backup Plus Mac Setup
If you have any suggestions to solve this issue or experience any questions when using iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, please feel free to let us know.